Medio-Core Chicago: June 2009

I'm coming to understand the Midwest really loves bicycles. It makes sense, the terrain is mostly flat which is conducive to human power. After all this is the home of Schwinn and SRAM. Mountain biking though? Well you have to be dedicated and that dedication can really pay off as it did this weekend. My buddy Chris and I went to the Midwest MTB Fest held in Grand Rapids Michigan. 160 miles away in the trails behind Cannonsburg ski area winding trails with great elevation oh yeah and pollen. The trails are unique in that they are sandy. When the glaciers melted and gave us the Great Lakes they left lots of sand and Michigan is already known for the sand dunes. Well even as far inland as Grand Rapids the soil content is mostly sand. I thought initially all that sand was kicking up into my eyes until I realized it was pollen making my eyes dry and itchy. I also learned that with sand comes erosion The Michigan Mountain Bike Association really has a nonstop job keeping up with both mother nature and a thriving MTB community. We rode the group ride on Sat. and got to know the trails and some other riders. We were told that we had to ride Yankee Springs before we left so we hit that trail the next day. The pollen wasn't nearly as bad and the trails were top notch. The flow was stellar and the elevation was tough complete with hair pin turns and steep drop offs. The single track took us though a pine forest that might as well have been out west somewhere. It was really impressive. Chris got to be Johnny on the spot with an air pump for some fellow riders and with a mile left in the 14 mile loop I broke a chain and had to hike out the remainder. But look on the bright side the last time I hiked out of a trail with my bike I had a mangled arm. It was a great weekend trip that took exactly one tank of gas and figured 22.3 mpg isn't horrible for a 17 year old truck.